Israel Independence Day honor for mayor who turned a mountain into a metropolis

By Alex Traiman/JNS.org

On Israel Independence Day, Israelis
take great pride in the hard work and military victories that have built the
world’s only Jewish state. At the same time, many detractors of Israel continue
push for boycotts and divestment from elements of that state.

Click photo to download. The city of Ariel, whose first mayor, Ron Nachman, is being honored on Israel Independence Day. Credit: Ori/Wikimedia Commons.

The accomplishments of 2013 Israel Prize
awardee Ron Nachman, however, have managed to transcend much of the
contemporary criticism of Israel. Nachman invested his entire life in a
barren mountain in Samaria and turned it into a sprawling, modern and controversial
metropolis—a city that many have grown to see as a symbol of Israeli
perseverance, chutzpah and ingenuity.

“Ron was very happy with the
boycotts as they brought added attention to the city,” Avi Zimmerman, the city
of Ariel’s international representative and executive director of the Ariel
Development Fund, told JNS.org. “The
detractors were represented by a small but vocal minority. The majority of
Israelis are more practical and appreciate the depth Ariel gives to Israel’s
narrow waistline.”

After passing away at age 70 in January, Nachman will be honored
posthumously with the 2013 Israel Prize, one of the nation’s highest honors, on
this Israel Independence Day (April 16) for his dedication and achievements as the
founder and longtime mayor of Ariel, one
of Israel’s largest Jewish communities situated beyond the 1967 Green Line (the
armistice line following that year’s Six Day War).

Nachman literally made his mark
on Israel’s landscape by turning a barren hilltop once called “Jabel Mawat,”
meaning the hill of death, into the unofficial “capital of Samaria,” a city
whose name, Ariel, means Lion of God, a synonym for Jerusalem. He died 35 years after founding Ariel.

Today, Ariel boasts a
population of 20,000 residents and all the social and cultural services of a
major Israeli metropolitan center. Nachman became the city’s first mayor in
1985 and held that post until he recently lost an extended battle with cancer.

“Ron was a force of nature,
a machine, or what Israelis would call a ‘bulldozer.’ It must be in his
family’s genes,” Zimmerman told JNS.org.

In the
early 1970s, the city of Ariel was just a concept, developed to establish a
presence that would provide strategic depth to Israel’s narrow waistline.

Ariel was conceived as part
of an understanding that Israel allegedly had with the U.S. State Department
following the Begin-Sadat Peace Deal that U.S. President Jimmy Carter brokered
between Israel and Egypt.

The understanding called for
establishing strategic development communities that would enable Israel to
defend its key population centers from the mountains above. Tel Aviv sits just
25 miles to the west of Ariel. Its skyline is clearly visible in the distance.

Ariel is considered one of
the major Jewish communities beyond the Green Line that would remain in Israeli
control in any peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. But unlike
the other communities in that category, Ariel is quite a bit further and more
isolated from other heavily populated areas.

Ariel is inside a narrow extension
of the separation barrier meant to fence off Palestinian communities from
Israeli population centers. The city is protected by its own security fence on
three sides.

Much to the dismay of its detractors,
every inch of Ariel was built with Israeli governmental approval, on both
state-owned and privately purchased land. Today, one of Israel’s largest
highways, Route 5, makes Ariel a short and pleasant ride from Israel’s coast.

According to Zimmerman,
Nachman abided by three guiding principles in the development of Ariel. “First,
Ron saw Ariel as an extension of Tel Aviv and was unwilling to establish the
new community without full authorization,” he said. “Second, Ron insisted on
building and developing Ariel with government approval and licensing. Third, he insisted on building a full-scale
and diverse city, suitable for a wide-range of residents.”

Before the first tent was
pitched, Nachman created what he referred to as the “nucleus” of Ariel, with
pledges from 6,000 future residents to come live in the city.

“Ron went door to door
explaining to families the merits of coming to live in Ariel, and describing
his vision for a city,” Zimmerman said.

In 1978, the first tents
were pitched and were soon followed by the first temporary and later permanent
structures. A truck delivered water, and generators provided electricity.

Approvals for the community
were signed by then-Minister of Defense Shimon Peres. As president of Israel,
Peres would deliver the keynote address at the city’s 30-year anniversary
celebration.

Today, Ariel sprawls over 12
kilometers from East to West with two industrial centers and an academic
institution that became a major point of national contention last year when it
achieved university status—the first Israeli educational institution to become
a university in over 30 years and the first higher learning and research
institution in Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank.

The university started out
as a branch of Bar Ilan University in the nearby Jewish community of Kedumim, before
moving to Ariel in 1986. The branch soon became an independent college that
over the years trained thousands of students to become professionals. The
college grew along with the city that bears its name, and today is a center of learning
for Jewish and Arab, religious and secular students alike. It is fast becoming
a world-class research facility.

During the 1990s, Nachman
saw a unique opportunity for Ariel, to grow its size by becoming a home for
Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union.

Click photo to download. Caption: The city of Ariel, whose first mayor, the late Ron Nachman, will be honored by Israel this israel Independence Day. Credit: Ori/Wikimedia Commons.

“Ron sent emissaries to
Russia to explain to immigrants the benefits of moving to Ariel,” Zimmerman
told JNS.org. “Today, roughly half of
Ariel’s residents are Russian.”

Since then, building across
Ariel has been severely restricted due to freezes on construction across Judea
and Samaria. Ariel’s newest residential neighborhood is a community for former
residents of the Gush Katif (Gaza) settlement of Netzarim, who were evacuated
from their homes by the Israeli government in the summer of 2005.

Yet, even during the
freezes, Nachman’s creativity and his desire to build could not be contained. He
turned his energies toward building cultural and community centers that have
further cemented Ariel’s status as a permanent part of the State of Israel and what
its residents call a great place to live.

When Ariel opened an $11 million Performing Arts Center
in 2010, several notable Israeli artists called for boycotting the facility,
turning Ariel into a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
flashpoint. But Nachman did not consider that development bad news, per
se, because he held by the well-known adage that “there is no such thing as bad
PR,” according to Zimmerman.

“Ariel may be the most
boycotted city in the world,” Zimmerman said.

Yet, according to Zimmerman,
even Ariel’s staunchest detractors had great respect for the work, vision and
perseverance of Nachman, the recipient of a government prize whose significance
is unquestioned in Israel.

“Even his political adversaries recommended him
for the prize,” Zimmerman said.

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